Interview with Paul McGinley: The temptation for Paul McGinley is not to look back, simply to keep moving forward. After all, his gut feeling is there's more, much more, in the tank, that the best has yet to come.

So what if he finished last season as third in the European Order of Merit? Or that he capped it with a season-ending victory in the Volvo Masters? Or that he produced the "shot-of-the-year" on the European Tour for his final-round approach to the 17th green at Valderrama on the way to glory?

So what? All those fairways found, all those greens hit in regulation and all those putts holed in 2005 belong in the past. The future is what counts.

"I don't want to look back on it as a fantastic year," said McGinley. "If I do that, there is a danger I don't follow it up. Sure it was a great year. Sure there was a lot of things achieved, a lot of progress made. But I've a few rungs to go yet. It's time to move on."

And McGinley is raring to go. Last weekend's Royal Cup match in Bangkok was an ideal season-opener, but the Dubliner has his eyes cast firmly ahead to the Ryder Cup at the K Club in September.

As things stand, he is well positioned to earn a place on the European team for a third straight time. McGinley is second behind Colin Montgomerie in the European points list, with €1,151,402.

"I want to get the job done quickly," confessed McGinley, who will play in the Qatar Masters in a fortnight before heading to the US for a stretch that will take him up to the Accenture Matchplay at the end of February.

McGinley reckons he needs to reach the €1.5 million mark to secure his place on Ian Woosnam's team.

"I think that will make me 101 per cent safe," he said. "The quicker I get to that (mark), the better. I don't want to put it in my mind that I've had a great start, that I've achieved a lot and I am nearly there. There is a bit of a way to go. I want to get that pressure done and dusted, to put that file away.

"I don't want to go through the stress of the last two Ryder Cups, of trying to make the team and making a dive for the finishing line. It is not the ideal way to make the team."

This time last year, when he was ranked 68th in the world and with no invitation to the US Masters to occupy his mind, McGinley set himself the goal of moving up the rankings.

"It is very difficult to make the Ryder Cup team if you are not in the majors or the world golf championship events," he remarked.

By the end of the year, McGinley had risen 50 places to 18th, and it is only his lack of play over the winter that has seen him drop back to 22nd.

The Qatar Masters will kick-start that early-season charge to book his Ryder Cup place and free his mind to focus on winning again.

"It's taken me time to learn my profession, there's been a lot of hard mistakes and lessons over the years. And I know there will be more losses in the future. I don't think you can compete at the very top level and not get hurt. I'm going to get hurt again several times in the future, but there will also be a lot of windows of opportunity too, and I want to make sure and stay on the right road and progress.

"There will be occasions that I will do my best, and feel I've done my best, and it won't be good enough. There will be occasions that I hit bad shots at the wrong time. It is only natural.

"Having said that, I feel I'm in a better position now to make the right decisions when I get into the situation of winning a tournament."

McGinley's itinerary will see him miss the Dubai Desert Classic, a tournament that has been good to him, in favour of a family holiday in Barbados.

"They've moved the tournament forward a month to get Tiger (Woods), and the kids would go mad if they missed their holiday."

Instead, McGinley will move on to play in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Los Angeles Open and the Accenture Matchplay.

By then, all going well, his Ryder Cup place will be locked.